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Google Grants - An Introduction and Case Study for Non-Profits and Agencies

This entry was written by one of our members and submitted to our YouMoz section.The author's views below are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz.

In the years since its inception, Google's growth from simple search engine to provider of multiple web services has seen it release a number of tools and programs for both users and webmasters to take advantage of. Some, like AdWords and Gmail, are well-known by name; others fly under the radar and take a little more digging to discover. One example of these lesser-known programs is the Google Grants program. Although the criteria for this are rather specific, it is set up just like an AdWords campaign â€“ albeit with some limitations. If you're familiar with AdWords and are eligible for the Google Grants program, this may be perfect for bringing your non-profit business the online boost it needs.

This article consists of two parts. The first half will give some background on what the Google Grants program is, who is eligible for it, how you can apply if you meet the criteria and certain limitations advertisers face. The second half will outline a real-world case study, showcasing how an agency using the Google Grants program worked to improve the position and click-through rate of their campaign.

So, in short, Google Grants is â€śAdWords for Non-Profitsâ€ť. If you're running a company that meets Google's criteria for this, the Google Grants program gives you a helping hand with promoting your products and services. Businesses that are eligible and participate in this program receive a $10,000 monthly grant for their campaign.

Eligibility for the Google Grants Program

There are several criteria that a business must meet in order to be eligible for the Google Grants program.

They must hold 501(c)(3) status, as determined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, and must acknowledge and agree to the application's required certifications regarding non-discrimination and donation receipt and use. The program is only available to companies in the countries listed here, and governmental entities and organizations, hospitals and health care organizations, and schools, childcare centers, academic institutions and universities (with the exception of philanthropic arms of educational organizations) are not eligible.

How to Apply to the Google Grants Program

Limitations to the Google Grants Program

There are some restrictions to using the Google Grants program. Daily budgets are set to $330.00 USD, Costs-Per-Click are limited to $2.00, campaigns can only be keyword-targeted and ads can only be text ads.

Limits to Budgets and Bids

The maximum daily budget you can set is $330 U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to about $10,000 per month. Within the last year, Google has increased the Cost per Click bid for keywords to $2.00 USD from the original $1.00 bid per keyword. Accounts can only use Manual bidding for clicks; automatic bidding is not allowed. You are unable to set Display Network bids or managed placement bids.

It is important to note that Grant accounts will only run for as long as your organization remains actively engaged with your AdWords account. Google states that they reserve the right to terminate your organization's participation in the Google Grants program for any reason without notice at any time. We recommend to any Grant Account Managers to consistently check in on the AdWords campaign at least once a month to keep the campaign active and to check for any urgent notices from Google or changes to the Grants program.

Why spend so much time getting the Grant approved and then waste it away on inactivity? Getting accepted in Googleâ€™s Grant Campaigns is an extensive process, but the benefits of the program are limitless. Do not take the campaign for granted and be sure to check in on the campaign multiple times each month to be on the safe side and itâ€™s also a great practice to follow for any AdWords campaign.

Part Two: A Google Grants Case Study

Here we will showcase one of our experience with the Google Grants program. The following case study is a brief look at the challenges we faced with the restrictions Google places on the Grants program and the strategy we used to overcome them. We will show you how we were able to turn the campaign around and go from a lower position with a low CTR and higher CPCs to a higher position with a high CTR and lower CPCs.

During the initial stages of the campaign we had set up 8 Ad Groups related to the clientâ€™s campaign and different aspects and keywords of each ad within - as we would with a traditional AdWords campaign. Please note, we selected the keyword lists for the campaign ourselves and did not use the assistance of Google for setting up the keyword list. This is also an option, but we wanted to have complete control of the keywords used within the campaign. We started with basic research and development and observed the campaignâ€™s progress over the first few months. Over this time, the campaign grew to respectable levels - upwards to $2000-$3000 spend for the month â€“ not near the full spend, but a good start, yet we found that between the limit on bidding and keyword selection we struggled to get to a ranking above position #4. This is where we first experienced a roadblock caused by Google's limitations on the way the Grants program works.

During the next stage of the campaign we set out to expand keyword lists and grow the existing ad groups â€“ again, taking the same type of approach we would with a traditional AdWords campaign. Once again we found that the restraints placed on the campaign tied our hands significantly, but progress was made despite rarely rising above 4th position.

Please note that in the graphic above we had set the budget to $2,000/day as we were not reaching the daily limit â€“ however, since then we set the budget to the limit of $330/day as per Googleâ€™s Guidelines. Always follow Google's guidelines.

It wasnâ€™t until we added social media-focused ad groups and keywords that we found ourselves expanding significantly. Due to the targets used with regards to funnelling people through the organizationâ€™s Facebook Page and Twitter Account, we found CTRs and Positions increased significantly. Far and away weâ€™ve seen the Social Media (Facebook) targeted ads have dwarfed the response gathered from organization-specific keywords from other ad groups:

This is where we saw the results really turn things around. Having had limited success due to the restrictions on the Google Grants program, we found a rather surprising solution: instead of relying on the traditional AdWords approach of keyword research and structured ad groups, we turned to social media, another aspect of online marketing that can play a major role in helping the same types of companies that benefit from the Google Grants program. We were able to receive the majority of impressions and clicks by choosing to focus on social networks, using the information we gathered to perform research and add the findings to the campaign. It was the unconventional approach to a paid campaign, one that went outside of the traditional data mining that's so often used by online marketers, that helped break past the barriers imposed by Google Grants and see a good degree of success.

It was a smart move that paid off for us and the client in the end, increasing their clicks, impressions and position while lowering the costs of the campaign.

However â€“ unfortunately â€“ Google has recently updated their Guidelines and Restrictions for the Google Grant programs to limit the use of only one domain for the ads used in the Google Grantâ€™s program. The one domain that you can use actually has to be the domain used in the initial registration process for the Grant Campaign.

This means that current and future Grants campaigns can only target ads to the domain used in the registration and any URLâ€™s not included within the domain will be disapproved by Google â€“ and continuation of this process will likely result in an account suspension or worse, a removal from the Grants program.

We wish this was not the case as we were able to have great success for a Grant campaign by using the Facebook pages for better engagement with the program â€“ but rules are rules â€“ and as we know, when they are Googleâ€™s Rules, you follow them to succeed.

If you are eligible for the Google Grants program, it may be able to offer your non-profit some additional exposure and promotion. Visit the Google Grants homepage for more information, or check out any of the following resources to find out more. Would also love to hear about others experiences with the grants campaign.

Thanks for the comment Josh. Yes it's definitely a great initiative for the organizations that qualify. $10,000 of free adwords credit can go a long way towards their fund raising / cause awareness initiatives .

It's been a few years since I've been involved in any Google Grants campaigns, but I've seen first-hand (and also heard second-hand) that if Google sets up initial keywords for you, they are not necessarily the best keywords, not set to the right match type, etc. If they're still doing this, it also makes sense to do a sanity check on what a Google rep might have set up.

Something really helpful for the organizations that has a cause but the fund problem make them difficult to reach out the targeted community. It will definitely help those to go further in what they wish to do for the society.

Absolutely, just to give another example,one of the charities we got approved for the Google Grant saw their traffic go from 30-40 visits per day to over 600+ visitors per day. Their newsletter signups and donations through the site had a similar impact.

Excellent introduction to the Grants program but I did want to clear up one item:

"We wish this was not the case as we were able to have great success for a Grant campaign by using the Facebook pages for better engagement with the program..."

For the record, you were never allowed to promote Facebook or other social media sites/profiles within the Grants program. You were only allowed to promote other websites owned by the nonprofit - never any third-party sites, even if they were profiles of the nonprofit. You may have gotten away with it but it was not ever allowed within the policy.

I've been writing a non-profit digital strategy post to go on here soon, finished it the other day but it still needs tweaks. It includes Google Grants, which you've covered in far more detail. Should I remove it from mine to avoid repetition, or perhaps keep it as an overview and link to this one for more detail? hmm... the latter I think.